Face front True Believers (I love sayin' that)! Sorry it took so long, but Chapter 3 is finally up and running. Now hold onto your hats folk, 'cause Naruto is about to reveil something that no one in Konohagakure has ever seen before: the existance of the mutant populace. What is his true mutant power? How will this affect his future as a shinobi? All these questions and more shall be answered, so read on gang, read on!

Chapter 3: Graduation, Revelation, and a new Team 7.

9 months after Naruto's first day of school, the time had finally come for him and his classmates to graduate from the Ninja Academy. During this span of time, Naruto had learned that the girl who had been staring at him on his first day was named Hinata Hyuuga, and that she was indeed listed in Xavier's files. He had been able to talk with her a few times and, despite her constant shyness, the two quickly became good friends. He'd often run errands for Sarutobi by the Hyuuga mansion and made it a point to say "hi" to Hinata before he left. Since this morning was the graduation exams however, Naruto was completely focused on his goal and set about his morning exercise. This consisted of a 5 mile lap around the Namikaze Estate and a quick, yet grueling sparring session in his gym's virtual reality (VR) chamber, which acted similar to the Danger Room back in Westchester. After he'd finished, taken a quick shower, and eaten breakfast, he was off and running to the Academy.

The main test of final exam was over the student's mastery of two basic shinobi skills, the Bushinn-no-Jutsu and the Henge-no-Jutsu. As soon as he got to school, the test began. After a number of students had gone, it was finally his turn. Sasuke had just finished his turn, creating a perfect 4-man squadron of Irukas that each brandished a unique shinobi weapon. He smirked haughtily as he passed Naruto on his way back to his seat. 'Humph, let's see the dobe top that he thought smugly.

"Piece of cake," said Naruto as he got up and made his way to the front, glaring at Sasuke all the while. Naruto managed to pull off the jutsu, but just barely. All but two of his clones were passable; the two that weren't looked worse for wear. As soon as the clones dispelled, Naruto went back to his seat and Iruka wrote down his final score: 85 percent. Naruto had barely managed to pass the exam, but still the blonde gratefully accepted his Hitai-ate. Naruto fastened it to his forehead and turned to give the class a thumbs-up, coupled with his now trademark fox-like grin. 'So, the dobe made it after all,' thought Sasuke. 'Big deal.'

Later that day, as the school day came to a close, the students rushed outside to their waiting parents, who congratulated them on their graduation to Genin. Even though he'd gotten congratulated by a majority of his teachers and classmates, Naruto still felt a bit of nostalgia for his "family" back in Westchester. 'Man, its cool that I graduated and all; but, I just wish dad could'a been here,' he thought as he sat on the swing, watching everyone file off. Just then, he noticed Mizuki, one of the Chunin-level instructors, approach him from the crowd. "Naruto-kun," said Mizuki nonchalantly. "Happy to finally be a ninja, eh?"

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet," he replied.

"Well then, how'd you like to go a mission for me? There's a certain scroll in the Hokage Library that I'm supposed to acquire for a friend."

"Really?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow. "And exactly what scroll are we talkin' about here?"

"I'm glad you asked Naruto. Its actually the Yondaime Hokage's Forbidden Scroll."

'The nerve of this creep!' Naruto thought, trying to restrain his anger. 'That scroll belongs to my real dad! To the Namikaze Clan! Why I ought'a..."

'Hold up Kit,' Kyuubi said, attempting to calm him down. 'Chill out for a sec. Remember what Iceman always says, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." Or, in his case, ice cold.'

'Yeah, you got a point Kyuubi. I'll show this bastard what happens when you cross my family, and he won't even see it comin', you can count on it!'

Naruto 'accepted' the mission promptly, then, when he was sure Mizuki had left, when to inform Sarutobi of what he had learned. Needless to say, Sarutobi was just as displeased as Naruto had been by Mizuki's treachery. They then made their own plans for how to deal with the situation. Since Xavier had announced Naruto's transition back to the village, Sarutobi had moved all of Minato's affects back into the Namikaze Estate including the Forbidden Scroll, which now rested in Naruto's library. The both of them agreed for Naruto to go ahead with the staged theft of the scroll, and Naruto also planned a little surprise for the traitor.

Later that night, Naruto appeared in the clearing with the Fourth's scroll mounted on his backpack. He had decided to wear his Xavier's Security Enforcers uniform for the occasion, seeing as after tonight, everyone in the village would've heard of the uncanny X-Men. The uniform consisted of a dark red bodysuit with two yellow lines traveling from his left side down his leg, extending from under a yellow 'X' over his heart. He also wore a red and black leather jacket with a flame-design on the cuffs (he'd sewn a hitai-ate to the right arm), fingerless gloves, combat boots, and a yellow belt. On his face, he wore a red visor.

Once he was sure the coast was clear, he sat down beneath a nearby tree, unfurled the scroll and started reading. From far off, one would only assume he was reading jutsu instructions, which was the scene that Iruka came upon when he showed up a few minutes later. "Heh, looks like you found the spot after all Iruka-sensei," Naruto said as he got to his feet, propping up the scroll. "I was startin' to get worried you wouldn't find me."

"Sorry I'm late Naruto," Iruka said apologetically. "I took a less frequented path, in order to keep this quiet, like you asked. I must say, you've really thought this through. Mizuki won't even get to lay a finger on the Fourth's scroll."

Suddenly, a hail of kunai shot out of the forest, pinning Iruka to a nearby tree. Naruto barely flinched; he'd smelled Mizuki coming from a mile away. The only reason he didn't alert Iruka, was because he wanted to give the traitor a false sense of security. Mizuki stood up on the tree branch he'd perched on a couple yards from them, grinning evilly all the while. "Oh, really Iruka?" he preened. "And what makes you think that the two of you simpletons could stop me, eh?"

"That's really simple Mizuki-sensei," Naruto said. "Did you honestly think I'd be so stupid as to steal such a rare artifact on the day I graduate?! I may be laidback, but even I know something's stupid when I hear it. That was seriously bad judgment on your part."

At this, Mizuki broke into a fit of maniacal laughter, after which he sneered smugly at Naruto, who though rightly confused by this action, had somewhat of an idea of where he would be going with all this. "Now, why would you be so loyal to a village that hates you simply for living, huh? Just hand over the damn scroll and spare yourself the trauma!"

Iruka's eyes widened at what Mizuki was saying. He knew what would come next. 'Have to get Naruto away from here!' he thought as he strained against the knives that held him. It was no use, they were in deep. "Naruto run! Take the scroll and get out of here! I'll keep Mizuki occupied while you get away!"

"Oh, come off it Iruka you fool. We both know you hate him too."

"Get bent Mizuki," Naruto rebutted. "There's no way Iruka-sensei would be like that. Sure, you would, but not him, it's just impossible. Especially since he's one of the few people that have actually nice to me since I got here, whereas the rest of the fricking village treats me like crap!!"

"And do you know why the 'rest of the fricking village' treats you as such?"

"NO MIZUKI, DON'T SAY IT! IT'S FORBIDDEN!!!"

"THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT IRUKA! THE REASON EVERYONE HATES YOU IS BECAUSE THE KYUUBI LIVES WITHIN YOU, NARUTO!! YOU ARE KYUUBI-NO-KITSUNE!"

"OH, NOW THERE'S A SHOCKER! YOU'RE A LITTLE LATE ON THAT ONE PAL! I'VE ONLY KNOWN THE GUY FOR WHAT, SIX YEARS NOW?!?!" Naruto rebutted. "And can we quit with all the yelling now? I actually wanna hear when I'm thirty."

At this, both instructors' jaws dropped considerably. 'He, He... knew?!' Mizuki thought in astonishment. After a moment, he managed off his surprise, regaining his undaunted composure. "Well, it still doesn't make any difference," he said, grasping the large fuma-shuriken on his back, "because I'll still be taking that scroll. It's not like it belongs to you anyway, Naruto."

"Actually, that'd be where you're dead wrong, Mizuki-teme," Naruto said darkly, narrowing his eyes at the traitor. As he spoke, the air around him began to ripple and twist as heat rose from his body. "See, if you'd actually done your homework, you'd have found that the recent DNA evidence that Xavier-Oji-sama sent to Sandaime proves that I am the son of Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage. Therefore, the scroll is rightfully mine. But, you chose not to look into it and automatically assume what you just did. Congratulations numb nuts, all you've done is succeeded in insulting my family and getting me very mad. Now you get to be one of the first to see why my codename in the X-Men, is Foxfire!"

Both Iruka and Mizuki barely saw Naruto move- his arms flew out in a wide arch, the throwing motion almost invisible, like a sudden breeze stirring up fallen leaves and dust across the open clearing. 'I don't know what he just did,' Mizuki thought haughtily, 'but it won't do him any good.' It was then that he saw the blades.

Ten of them flew at him silently through the darkness, each about 6 inches long. But these knives weren't solid or made of steel like a kunai; they were made of something different, almost like chakra. They were the color of molten lava, and as they drew closer, Mizuki could feel an intense heat coming from them. He dove to the side in an attempt to avoid the strange projectiles. However, two found their mark, slicing clean through his left bicep and thigh. He howled in pain as he landed on a nearby tree branch, clutching his damaged arm. Looking up to glare wrathfully at Naruto, he saw that the blonde had more 'knives' at the ready,

... And they were growing out of his fingertips.

"I call them Tsume-no-Kitsune (Claws of the Fox)," the blonde said as he brought the claws to face-level, glaring at Mizuki. The blades self-sustained luminescence cast an eerie glow on Naruto's visage, making him appear all the more frightening. "They're made of pure plasma energy, each one as hot as the sun's surface. Now, normally, I'd use these to split you in half with one swipe and leave it at that, but not this time. No, I want answers. I know someone hired you to secure this scroll, just as you hired me. The only reason I didn't kill you outright was because doing so would've kept your employer's identity a secret. Now either you tell me who hired you, or I force it outta you!"

"You're welcome to come and try, Fox-brat!!" Mizuki roared. He clasped the fuma-shuriken once more and swung it at Iruka with all his might. "You can't both fight me, and defend your precious sensei at the same time!"

As the bladed projectile flew at him with incredible speed, Iruka's eyes widened in realization of the fact that he wouldn't be able to dodge it! He was going to die. Iruka strained against the kunai once again in desperation, but to no avail. Just as he was sure the shuriken would slice him to pieces, he heard hissing sound, almost like molten steel that had just been doused in ice water. He looked up to see Naruto standing over him with his arms crossed in front of his chest, palms facing out. His claws had formed a sort of shield, which had caught the shuriken; the intense heat was beginning to liquefy the metal, steam rising from its melting form. Iruka saw Naruto wince slightly and noticed that one of the shuriken's edges had dug into his palm. It was in really deep.

"Naruto," he managed to say, "why?"

"Because, you're my friend Iruka-sensei," the young X-Man said, turning to smile weakly at him. "Even though Kyuubi killed your parents, you still managed to find it in yourself to overlook that and help me out when I needed it, even knowing that thing lives inside me."

"Aw, what a touching speech," chortled Mizuki as he got to his feet. "I think I'm going to cry. If you're really this touchy-feely, then killing you will be a walk in the park."

Naruto angrily tossed the melting shuriken aside and made an odd seal with his still clawed hands. "Take your best shot, jackass. I'll give it back to you a thousand fold! And this time I won't be going easy on you!!" As the injured traitor charged at him, a kunai spinning in either hand, Naruto shut his eyes in intense focus and summoned every bit of his own chakra he could muster. 'Can't hold back like I did during the test! I've got to give this one 110 percent! No matter what!'

"KAGE-BUSHINN NO JUTSU!!!" With a sudden bamf of smoke, an army of Naruto's appeared around the three, each one bearing the same claws that the original had. It was all Mizuki could do to keep from going slack jawed at the sight. Iruka saw all this, and took it in with a mixed sense of pride and sincere amazement. 'Those aren't regular illusions,' he thought in astonishment, 'they're solid clones! He's managed to master a Jounin-level technique! Truly remarkable.'

"Hey Mizuki-teme!" the clones yelled in unison. Mizuki looked around in confusion and panic, not knowing which one to attack. "This just goes to show you, why everyone in the Academy called me Konoha's #1 Maverick Ninja. You never know what I'm gonna pull next; believe it!" On that note, each of the clones leveled their hands at the traitor, firing their claws at him all at once. The hailstorm of plasma was on him in seconds, slicing him on nearly every part of his body. When it was over, the clones leapt from the trees and descended on him with a series on pulverizing kicks and punches that sent him reeling with each blow. Just as he was about to fight back, the real Naruto appeared in front of him and slashed at him vertically with his claws, adding a renewed strength to the pungent scent of burning flesh that already filled the air. Another, more powerful slash sent him flying backwards against a tree. Naruto fingered a pair of his claws like kunai and used them to pin Mizuki to the tree. 'Man, payback's Hell,' Mizuki thought ironically as he glanced at Iruka.

Satisfied that Mizuki was through, Naruto willed the clones to dispel and 'retracted' his claws. 'Nice job on the Kage-Bushinn Kit,' commented Kyuubi as Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. 'Even I had my doubts about that one.'

'Gee, thanks Kyuubi,' Naruto thought sarcastically. 'Now, what do you say we have a talk with our Black Cat wannabe over there? He strode towards the traitor, stooping down to face-level. Just then, he noticed an odd, green mark on Mizuki's arm where of his 'knives' had sliced him. Without a word, he ripped away the badly shredded fabric to reveal a frighteningly familiar tattoo, stained with blood: a circle with a grinning green skull in the center, tentacles coiling out from under its chin.

"So you're one of Strucker's Green-Shirts, eh, Mizuki-teme?" Naruto snarled, grabbing Mizuki by his collar so they were face-to-face.

"Heh, heh, heh," Mizuki wheezed, blood trickling from his mouth, "you aren't as dumb as you look, hanyou (half-demon)."

"Save it for the guys at S.H.I.E.L.D., you damn traitor. Now, why did he send you? Why's my father's scroll interest him so much?"

"Heh, like you'll ever find out, hanyou," Mizuki spat before tilting his head back, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed something. Seconds later, sickly green foam began to spill from his mouth. "I'll see you in Hell, Naruto. Hail HYDRA! Immortal HYDRA! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off a limb, two more shall take..." Then, he fell silent, the suicide pill having finally ended his pathetic existence.

'It's kinda ironic. Taking his Baron's secrets to his well-deserved grave,' Naruto thought as he left the body drop and stood to retrieve his sensei. He turned to gaze one last time at the twisted smirk on Mizuki's face. 'If only he'd shown such loyalty to our village. The fool.' After plucking Iruka off the tree, they picked up the Fourth's scroll and walked back to the village, leaving Mizuki's burnt and bloodied body behind. Naruto knew that a recon team from the local S.H.I.E.L.D. Outpost pick it up, or an ANBU Squad would find it after noticing that Mizuki never returned home. After they had shared a few bowls of ramen at Ichiraku, courtesy of Teuchi, the bar's owner, Naruto and Iruka said goodnight and parted ways. Naruto suppressed a yawn as he headed home for a good night sleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a heck of a long day.

The following morning, after completing his morning schedule per usual, Naruto headed off to school. He wore his civvies again, which consisted of a Day-Glo orange jacket, a pair of orange cargos, his regular hitai-ate, his crimson Sage-issued cyber-visor, and a pair of standard issue sandals. Today was the day they would both be assigned a squad and meet with their Jounin instructors. He arrived at the Academy around 9:05am, prior to taking his usual route over the rooftops of the village. Upon entering his classroom, he was warmly greeted by Iruka and promptly took his seat, and switched his iPod to Everyday Superhero by Smash Mouth. Moments later, Uchiha Sasuke entered the room and took his seat in front of Naruto. He glanced back at Naruto for a moment, and then did a bit of a double take. Naruto had his feet propped up on his desk, spinning one of his plasma knives between two of his fingers. The energy blade became a neon orange blur as it traced a lazy figure 8 around his digits.

'What the hell is that?' he wondered in amazement. 'More over, how is that dobe doing that?' It was then that he remembered Naruto's stories about the X-Men and mutant heroes from America. So, he was telling the truth, and this was his particular mutant power. By then, a number of the other students had taken notice of the spectacle and began to stare at Naruto in a similar fashion. Sensing their gaze, Naruto looked up at them and paused his music. "What?" he asked, halting the rotation of the knife and willing it to dissipate.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a huge commotion over by the classroom door. Naruto and Sasuke both turned to see what was going on. Apparently, Sakura and Ino Yamanaka had been trying to see who could get to class first and sit next to Sasuke, and had become stuck in the doorframe. They were both shoving and shouting at each other while trying to be the first one in. "MOVE IT FOREHEAD GIRL!!" Ino yelled at Sakura in annoyance.

"OUTTA THE WAY INO-PIG!!!" was Sakura's response. Finally, Sakura managed to disentangle herself from the blonde girl and rushed to Sasuke, claiming her seat faithfully by his side. "Hey Sasuke-kun! What's going on?" She smiled, running her fingers through her bright pink hair.

"Oh, hi Sasuke-kun!" Ino interrupted as she sat down on the side opposite Sakura. "I didn't know you were sitting here." She looked over his shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Sakura, who responded with a death-glare that could've dropped an elephant. Sasuke sighed and reclined back into his chair. 'Ugh, fan girls. Why the hell is my life such a damn circus?' Once everyone had calmed down, Iruka began his announcement of the graduates' new squads. Naruto was slightly disappointed to hear that he wouldn't be on the same team as most of his friends he'd known were in the Agenda-X files. Then, Iruka came to his team. "Squad 7: Uzumak-Howlett Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

No sooner had those words left his lips that an audible thumping sound reached his ears. He looked up from his clipboard, only to witness Naruto repeatedly beating his head against his desk, a frustrated look adorning his face. 'Ugh, why?' Naruto thought in annoyance. 'Why do I gotta be on the same team as the Alpha-Emo himself? I ask you, why?'

'Hey, don't look at me,' Kyuubi replied, a hint of amusement in his voice, 'I just live here.'

"Is something the matter Naruto?" Iruka asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde's behavior.

"Um, hell yeah!" Naruto replied, slamming his hands on his desk as he stood up. "Why do I have ta be on the same team as Sasuke? He frickin' hates me, and in all honesty, the feeling's mutual."

"Ugh, I'm sorry Naruto," Iruka said in annoyance, "we simply had no where else to place you. You'll just have to grin and bear it." Could this be the same Naruto that had single-handedly defeated a Chunin-level ninja the night before? Naruto responded by sighing audibly, sinking back into his seat as he regretfully resigned to his fate. Oh well, at least Sakura-chan was on his team too. Sure she had a huge crush on Sasuke, but she'd probably make for better company. Just then, Iruka announced their lunch break. "Okay everyone. Time to break for lunch. Meet back here later so your Jounin senseis can pick you up."

"Well, if that's it, I'll see you guys later," Naruto said to his new teammates.

"Whatever, dobe," Sasuke responded coldly.

Naruto stopped just as he was getting ready to leave. "You know what? I'm sick and tired of you calling me that Emo-Boy!" he growled as whirled around to stare Sasuke in the face. "You call me that one more time and you'll wish you were 6ft under!"

"Yeah right. Like you'd even try it... dobe." Sasuke had put an emphasis on the nickname on purpose, simply to spite Naruto.

"That's it! You asked for it!" Naruto brought his hands to his sides, the air around his fingers snapping in protest as he converted its nitrogen particles into his high energy plasma claws; at the same time, Sasuke fingered his shuriken holster, ready to pull out a kunai at any moment. Just as Naruto was about to jump Sasuke, one of the other students bumped into him from behind, sending him barreling into Sasuke head first. His and Sasuke's lips met in an embarrassing and greatly disturbing 'kiss,' which sent Sakura and Ino, as well as the other fan girls in the classroom into a panicked frenzy.

"NARUTO!! GET YOUR LIPS OFF OF SASUKE-KUN, BAKA!!" Sakura screamed, a huge vein appearing on her forehead. 'AAAAAHHHH!!!' shrieked Inner-Sakura in pure terror.

"YEAH, GET OFF OF MY MAN, YOU FREAK!!" shouted Ino.

Naruto was more than happy to comply with her request, leaping back onto his desk and scrapping his lips and tongue with his claws frantically. 'Never be clean, never be clean, never be clean!" he thought in disgust. Sasuke, at the same time, fell to the floor with a hand cupped over his mouth to keep down the bile that rose in this throat. "I'm gonna kill you... Naruto!"

However, before he could say another word, Naruto vanished in a black cloud of smoke. The lingering smell of brimstone caused the Uchiha to wrinkle his nose in disgust, as the taste of sulfur in the air made him gag and gasp for breath, not helping his nausea at all. After his coughing spell and nausea subsided, he looked out the window to see Naruto reappear on a tree branch a few yards away from the building. Sasuke glared angrily at the blonde as he smirked at him and gave him the finger before teleporting away again. 'Naruto,' Sasuke thought in annoyance as the rest of the class left.

A few hours later, after Naruto and his friends had met up at Ichiraku's for lunch, most of the teams that had met back at the Academy had already been picked up. However, Squad 7's sensei was phenomenally late; they had been waiting there for two hours! By that time, Naruto had gotten fed up with waiting and decided to set up a little surprise for their Jounin sensei. Pulling out a length of tetsugen (ninja wire), a water balloon, and a vial of grey liquid, he began laying his trap. The final result was balloon tied to a wire that would burst open on the Jounin's head once his foot tugged the tripwire, spilling its contents all over his face. Sasuke was a bit irked by the whole scenario, remembering the face full of smoke he'd gotten earlier. "Yo dobe, what the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Just a little something to remind our sensei to show up on time," Naruto responded. Sakura signed at the blonde's actions. However, Inner-Sakura was a completely different matter. 'Oh, man! I love stuff like this!'

"Gimme a break, the guy's a Jounin," Sasuke reasoned. "He wouldn't fall for something so stupid like that."

"Really now? I did the same thing to Beast last year in Biology. It worked like a charm then."

Just then, as if on cue, their silver-haired Jounin opened the door with a hentai novel in his hands, triggering the makeshift pendulum's swing. The water balloon burst against the side of his head, the grey liquid coating his face. As soon as it made contact with the air, it hardened into a sticky substance that suctioned onto his face, temporarily blinding him. Before he could even reach up to pull at whatever was on his face, he felt his legs get kicked out from under him, slamming him to the floor. In seconds, his book and shuriken holster were stripped from him as his hands were secured behind his back. Suddenly, the substance on his face was burnt away, and he was staring at a grinning Naruto. "See teme?" he beamed at a surprised Sasuke. "I told you it would work."

"Umm, could you let me up?" Kakashi said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'd like to not have to hurt you."

"Sorry about that," Naruto said as he helped Kakashi to his feet and returned his novel and holster. "But, you can expect more of that if you're gonna be late like that again."

"BAKA!!!" yelled Sakura as she swung at Naruto with a mean right hook. The blonde barely managed to get out of the way in time, sliding under her punch using a Pencak Silat feign that his father had taught him. As he did so, Kakashi took note this action silently. Apparently, Naruto was one to keep an eye on, same as Sasuke. He knew that Sandaime had told him that Naruto wanted no special treatment from anyone, especially Kakashi, since he had a bit of a history with his father, James Howlett. In many ways, the boy was almost a mirror image of the Wolverine he'd been partners with during the last Great Shinobi War.

While Kakashi was remembering his past with Naruto's father and Sakura was trying in vain to hit Naruto, Sasuke was examining the burnt pieces of whatever had been stuck to the Jounin's face. It was sticky to the touch and seemed to have incredible tensile strength; his kunai had barely been able to slice into it, and even then it had gotten stuck. "Hey dobe," he finally asked, "what the heck is this crap?"

"That would be grade-A spider silk," Naruto replied with a grin as he folded his hands behind his head; at this point, Sakura had given up on trying to pummel him. "A few months after I'd officially joined the X-Men's field ops, some friends and I were hanging out at a mall in New York City. Unfortunately, it was also the same mall that Scorpion, Rhino, and the Jester had decided to hold up that day too. We managed to hold 'em off until Spider-Man showed up, after which we both took those three clowns down no problem. Afterwards, Spidey agreed to lend me the formula for his webbing fluid. I only brought enough chemicals with me for a small batch though, and that was it."

"Hmp," was the Uchiha's only response.

"Well," Kakashi said at last, drawing their attention back to him. "My first impression of this group... you're a bunch of idiots. Okay, follow me to the roof. Let's chat." At that, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto considered teleporting at first, but thought better of it and took the stairs with the rest of his team, not wanting to flaunt his mimicry. Minutes later, they all arrived on the roof and took a seat in front of the silver-haired Jounin, who was thumbing through his 'Icha-Icha Paradise' novel like it was his one and only life-line. Upon noticing their arrival, he sighed audibly and shut his book. "Okay, now that we're all here, let's introduce ourselves."

"Um... sensei?" began Sakura. "Could you give us an example of how it would go?"

'Ugh, these kids today are completely clueless,' he thought. "Alright then, I guess it couldn't hurt. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are honestly none of your concern, and my dreams are not appropriate for me to mention to you kids. Okay, you go next, pinky."

'Well, that was useless. All we learned was his frickin' name,' thought Inner-Sakura in annoyance. "Well, my Name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are... (She glanced at Sasuke and giggled) my dreams are... (She glanced at him again and blushed a little)."

"And your dislikes, Sakura?" Kakashi asked. Her response was, "NARUTO! Oh, and Ino-pig!"

"Those are some strong words Sakura," Kakashi replied. "Okay, you next." He gestured towards Sasuke.

Sasuke, who had been quietly staring into space until now, peered over his interlocked fingers to stare at Kakashi with his piercing, red eyes. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he began. "I don't have many likes to speak of. I dislike many things. As for my dreams... I'm going to restore my clan, and take my revenge on a certain someone, who it has been my ambition to destroy for many years now." Although Kakashi was a bit concerned with the young Uchiha's obsession with vengeance, as it could become a hindrance psychologically as well as in combat, he was satisfied for now and turned to Naruto and had him do the same.

"My name's Uzumaki-Howlett Naruto," the blonde said enthusiastically. "My likes are ramen, motorcycles, American music, drawing, video-games, the martial arts, going on missions, and gettin' into a good scrap every now and then. My dislikes are mutant-haters, people who think they're all that, fighting people who monologue a lot, and the fact that there is no such thing real 'instant' ramen. As for my dreams, I'm going to be the next Hokage some day, establishing the Land of Fire as an ally with the U.S., and starting up my own branch of the X-Men here in Konohagakure."

'Hmm. Considering what both Iruka and Sandaime-sama told me,' Kakashi thought, 'Naruto was a member of the X-Men's field team when he was eleven, so he's seen his share of battles in the past two years. This ought to be very interesting.' He got to his feet and looked the kids over for a moment. "Okay, now that the formalities are out of the way, I'd like you all to meet me at the training grounds tomorrow morning for a mandatory skill test."

"But, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said in confusion, "we already went through that for the Genin Exams!"

"Yes, well, this is somewhat of a survival test, just to see if you can stand up to a Jounin in actual combat." The silver-haired Jounin turned to leave, and then turned to smirk at them from beneath his mask. "Oh, one more thing: don't eat any breakfast before doing this. Anyhow, see you tomorrow." Kakashi left them with that thought as he teleported away and they went their separate ways. Somehow they all had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be a step-up from what they were used to. They'd have to bring their "A" game if they wanted to have a chance at whatever Kakashi had planned for them.

Wow! Now how was that for a surprise? Don't think its over just yet, 'cause the infamous Bell Test is up next! How will our new Genin fare? Will Naruto's mutant powers give them an edge? Stay tuned to find out, and remember to R&R :)!